“Keystone Classic” Rivalry Renewed

It’s that week of the year that both PITT and Penn State fans look forward to.  That’s right, don’t believe Penn State fans and media when they try to play down this week because they believe their athletic department when they say that they are “Unrivaled”.  Which I call BS on because they need this rivalry as much as PITT needs this rivalry.  Especially now in the playoff era, PITT, Penn State and WVU should play each other every year if they want to impress the playoff committee with their resumes.  But, that is a different conversation for a different day, today is just about the game coming up this Saturday.

PITT is coming off a game against Youngstown State that was a lot closer than it had to be.  I’m not reading into what the offense did in that game as much because it was a “sugar free” vanilla game plan and yes it was even more bland than their game plan last season against Villanova in the opener.  When we boil it all down, PITT had a 21-0 lead at the Half and a 21-7 lead after 3 quarters with a chance to make it a 3 touchdown lead after the blocked punt was returned inside the 5 yard line.

If PITT scores a touchdown there instead of missing a FG, the score would have been 28-7 and the game would of probably ended that way and it would of been the exact same score and same conversation had after the Villanova game last year.  But, the conversation changed because of the way the 4th Quarter went down with the offense trying to hold onto the lead without showing too much and the secondary just could not cover the wheel route to save their lives.  But, the OT went exactly like you would want to see from PITT as the Max Browne found Jester Weah in the endzone and the defense picked off a desperate Hunter Wells to seal the game and allow the Panthers to escape with a season opening Win.

Now, Penn State took care of business by defeating Akron 52-0 in their Week 1 win at home.  But, I’m not reading too much into that to because it was in State College and everyone expected them to run all over the Zips.  I do believe that Saquon Barkley is for real and their offense does run through him.  Barkley is going to have a lot to prove because he had a bad game last season in this match-up with a few turnovers and McSorley had a few turnovers including the one big interception by Ryan Lewis in the end-zone to ice the game.

That is where I am going to start with what PITT needs to do this week to come out on top against the Nittany Lions.  Step #1 is to contain Barkley and the ground attack.  If the defense can make Penn State one dimensional that would be a huge help, but then that puts all the pressure on your secondary to keep McSorley in check and not give up the big play.  Which after last week, if you are a PITT fan you may not be too confident in that happening.

After the Youngstown State game, LB Oluwaseun Idowu was asked about communication on the defensive side of the ball and said, “We are the heart of the defense. I know everything starts up front, but we got to communicate, we got to do a better job of communicating to the backend, to the frontend, really to the whole defense. I mean that’s our job, something we got to do better.”

Communication on the defensive side of the ball is going to be huge this week in State College because it is going to be loud and you can’t afford to have any miscommunication or be out of position against an offense like Penn State.  Under OC Joe Moorhead, the Nittany Lions become a potent offense last season and our expected to be one of the top offenses in the nation.  It is safe to assume, that Moorhead will be the coordinator that school’s with head coach openings after this season will be throwing a lot of money at to come lead their football program.

Step #2 for PITT this Saturday will be for the offense to go step for step with Penn State and try to remain a step ahead of them as well.  I know the goal every game is to avoid sending the punt team onto the field, but this week it will be extra important when trying to pull off this victory on the road against a Top 5 team in the nation.  It’s safe to say in this game Touchdown is the goal on most drives, but Field Goal should be the minimum on every drive.

The offense, aside from the running game, looked a little rusty at times during the YSU game, but showed some signs in Overtime that this offense should be fine.  After the game QB Max Browne told reporters about the missed opportunity after the block punt, “100%, that was a huge missed opportunity for us. Yeah, we missed an opportunity to put another 7 on the board, make it a 2 possession, 3 possession game at the point.”

The offense can’t afford to miss golden opportunities like that this week on the road and have to at least come away with a field goal in those situations.  If the offense can put points on the board on all, or 99%, of their drives that should keep the pressure on Penn State and give confidence to the defense to that all they need to do is make 2-3 stops at minimum and hold them to field goals if they do give up points.

And finally Step #3, PITT needs to win the special teams battle and that mean converting field goals when needed, pinning Penn State deep if they do punt and winning the kick and punt return game.  And Penn State HC James Franklin made it clear yesterday in his weekly press conference that he was extremely nervous about Quadree Henderson.  And as PITT fans, everyone should be cheering for Henderson to have a good day and put the offense in great field position to do some damage.

Now time for my prediction and after looking at the Vegas odds who have Penn State as a 16.5-20.5 pt favorite which shocks me that it’s that big just after 1 week of the college football season, but hey I’m not Vegas.  But, I am going to go with my prediction that I’ve been going with for a couple of weeks now: PITT 38 – PSU 34.

Tweet me your game and score predictions to @MattyIcePGH and @IntoPITT.  And what do you think PITT needs to do to come out of State College with a victory on Saturday.